Time and again we hear people say that their biggest retirement fear is running out of money. It’s an understandable concern. With increasing lifespans and higher health care costs, retirement is often longer—and more expensive—than it used to be.

Planning ahead will go a long way in feeling more confident to take on a retirement that may last upwards of three decades. If you’re thinking about retiring within the next few years, now is the time to get your financial ducks in a row. Here are our top tips to help ensure you’re prepared.

ENVISION YOUR NEW LIFESTYLE

Taking the time to think through the realities of your retirement lifestyle helps you align your values (what’s most important to you) with your financial goals. If your ideal retirement consists of living in your current home, tending to your garden and volunteering at your local library, your financial needs will likely be very different from someone who seeks to spend their retirement visiting the world’s best 5-star resorts. Your financial plan should be constructed to reflect those differences in lifestyle.

Related Articles

OPTIMIZE YOUR EMPLOYER BENEFITS

We encourage you to scrutinize your employer benefits in the years leading up to retirement. Items to consider: Have you updated your 401(k) to include the “Catch-up” provision that allows workers 50+ to contribute an extra $6,000? Does your company offer special post-employment benefits (airline, retail discounts)? Are your employer-sponsored insurance policies portable? Are they worth the additional expense?

PROFESSIONALIZE YOUR INVESTMENT STRATEGY

Over last 15 years, the S&P 500 returned 8.19 percent annually. If you invested $100,000 and earned that 8.19 percent, you’d have over $325,000. The average equity investor over the same period only earned 4.67 percent, giving them $198,000 if they invested the same $100,000. Why are they underperforming? There are a number of excuses, such as loss aversion, denial and falling under the spell of media influence. We believe the best way to avoid behavioral mistakes is to offload investment management to an objective and professional third party like a financial adviser.

EVALUATE YOUR RETIREMENT SPENDING PLAN

To avoid running out of money, it’s important to not only reach a savings goal, but also chart out what your spending may look like. This is where the value of a financial adviser with expertise in retirement income planning comes in. Based on your family history, health, savings, and other factors, we can help determine an appropriate time horizon and average withdrawal rate for you— and we can suggest small changes that may extend your savings.

SEEK OUT TAX EFFICIENCIES

One of the surest ways to keep more of your hard-earned money is to employ tax planning. If your savings and investments aren’t divided into taxable, tax-deferred and tax-free categories, you probably aren’t minimizing your tax burden — which means you could end up paying more in taxes than you really need to. Enlisting the expertise of a tax planner could help make the most of your money.

You’ve worked hard for your retirement; you deserve to enjoy it. Following these five points will not only help you seek a more comfortable retirement, it’ll also help assuage any concerns you have about a lack of preparedness.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. All indexes are unmanaged and may not be invested into directly.

Bruce Helmer and Peg Webb are financial advisers at Wealth Enhancement Group and co-hosts of “Your Money” on News Radio 830 WCCO on Sunday mornings. Email Bruce and Peg at yourmoney@wealthenhancement.com. Securities offered through LPL Financial, Member FINRA/SIPC.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Business

Local bath and body store Garden of Eden, has announced it will close its Grand Avenue location. The shop, which has been in operation for 45 years, will be moving to an online sales model. The storefront, currently at 792 Grand Ave., will be open until Dec. 31. The website, gardenofedenstores.com, will expand its selection in 2018, according to a...

Target plans to boost its same-day delivery capability by paying $550 million for Shipt, its latest move to try to catch up with Amazon. Shipt, which charges members $99 a year, sends people out to choose and deliver groceries from stores. Target said Wednesday that it will add more products to the service next year, such as home goods and...

A Little Falls, Minn., woman came forward Tuesday to claim a $1 million Powerball prize. “I always said, ‘Someday I’m going to win,’ and I did!” said Pam Lestico at the lottery’s office in Roseville, a news release reported. “She deserves it,” said Lestico’s daughter, Kelly Miller, in the release. “She has a heart of gold.” “I play every Wednesday...

Minnesota announced restrictions Tuesday on how farmers can use the herbicide dicamba in 2018, responding to complaints by soybean growers across the country that it harmed their crops this year. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture set a June 20 cutoff date for applying the herbicide and prohibited applications when the temperature or forecast high for the day is above 85...

A Minnesota lawmaker says a state manager whose bureau oversees investigations into abuse and neglect in nursing homes was fired after she blew the whistle on a “toxic culture” that was an obstacle to ensuring that officials do a better job protecting residents of senior care facilities. “I want answers,” said Sen. Karin Housley, R-Stillwater, who chairs the Senate Aging...

A 3M plant in Eagan will be closing by the end of 2018, a company spokeswoman announced Tuesday. The filtration products plant at 3130 Lexington Ave. employs 150 people. Of those, 10 will be given jobs at 3M facilities in Maplewood. The rest will be able to apply for other company jobs, according to spokeswoman Lori Anderson. The plant manufactures...